AMBASSADOR RICE, UNSC PERMREPS MEET WITH MONUC AND

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 KINSHASA 000509

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/01/2019
TAGS: UNSC MOPS PGOV PHUM PREL CG
SUBJECT: AMBASSADOR RICE, UNSC PERMREPS MEET WITH MONUC AND
DRC LEADERSHIP

REF: KINSHASA 492

Classified By: Ambassador William J. Garvelink for reasons 1.4 (b) and
(d).


1. (SBU) Summary: On May 18 Ambassador Susan Rice and the
United Nations Security Council (UNSC) Permanent
Representatives (permreps) met with North Kivu provincial
officials, MONUC leadership, and victims of sexual violence
in Goma and visited Kiwanja, a village in North Kivu, where
rebel groups massacred civilians in November 2008. On May
19, the delegation traveled to Kinshasa, meeting President
Joseph Kabila, Prime Minister Adolphe Muzito, Senate
President Leon Kengo Wa Dondo, and National Assembly
President Evariste Boshab. Ambassador Rice and Ambassador
Garvelink held a bilateral meeting (reftel) with Kabila
following the group meeting. The UNSC-GDRC discussions
focused on continued progress on the rapprochement between
the DRC and its Great Lakes neighbors, regional joint
military operations against the FDLR and LRA and the impact
of the global economic crisis on the DRC. The Security
Council ambassadors underscored the importance of human
rights protection, security sector reform, and the need for
the DRC to end impunity. End summary.

UNSC in Goma - A Snapshot
--------------


2. (SBU) Fifteen members of the UN Security Council (UNSC),
including Ambassador Susan Rice, visited Goma on May 18 for a
first hand look at the UN's largest peacekeeping mission.
UNSC members clearly focused on MONUC's primary mission of
civilian protection. Following a military briefing by MONUC
commanders and a general review of North Kivu stability by
Governor Julien Paluku, the ambassadors questioned FARDC
General Amuli about government troops' human rights abuses.
Amuli admitted that FARDC troops were poorly trained, but
said the government is currently involved in operations
against the FDLR and cannot move forward on planned security
sector reform (SSR). Ambassador Rice demurred, asking why
integrated battalions guilty of the worst abuses could not be
moved from the east or garrisoned to instill better
discipline. MONUC Force Commander Gaye concurred, noting
that training and operations can occur simultaneously. Amuli
said the joint MONUC-FARDC Operation Kimia II against the
FDLR might last as little as three months.


3. (SBU) In a briefing with MONUC and local NGOs on the
humanitarian situation, UN Deputy Special Representative of
the Secretary General (D/SRSG) Ross Mountain recounted the
UN/NGO role in averting a humanitarian crisis in eastern
Congo. While many internally displaced persons (IDPs) are
returning home, others are fleeing from the FDLR and the
FARDC, leaving North Kivu with a total of 900,000 IDPs.
Security Council members returned to the question of FARDC
depredations, asking what MONUC could do to restrain its
Kimia II partner. SRSG Alan Doss noted that MONUC has no
mandate to detain FARDC abusers, and there are no military
prisons in the Kivus. He acknowledged that some FARDC
commanders who had committed known rapes were free, but noted
the "contradictions" in the MONUC mandate to pursue the FDLR
and to protect civilians. Actions to promote the former
mandate would have a negative impact on the latter mandate.
Ambassador Rice responded that the UN may need to provide
clearer guidance to MONUC, but the culture of impunity in the
DRC must be reversed.


4. (SBU) MONUC transported the UNSC members to Kiwanja, site
of a MONUC base and some of the worst atrocities committed by
the CNDP rebel group during its offensive in late 2008. A
MONUC political adviser told poloff that the Security Council
members pushed MONUC to take a more activist role in
protecting civilians. MONUC commanders advised that they
lacked the resources to protect the entire population of the
Kivus, using the occasion to press for 18 requested military
helicopters and the deployment of the 3,000 promised UN
troops.

Kabila Touts Improved Diplomatic and Security Relations
-------------- --------------


5. (C) President Kabila met with the permreps at his
presidential compound on May 19. Kabila, appearing relaxed
throughout, said the government had increased its control of
areas in the east which had improved the humanitarian

KINSHASA 00000509 002 OF 003


situation over the past six months. However, IDPs remained a
concern. He also said that protection of women and children
is a priority for the DRC. He acknowledged that the Prime
Minister had received a list of five names of human rights
abusers from the Security Council and that "justice would be
served."


6. (C) Ambassador Rice asked Kabila for his assessment of
MONUC's performance and thanked him for the leadership he
displayed in cooperating with Rwanda and Uganda to address
negative forces in the eastern DRC. Kabila noted with
appreciation the role MONUC had played in supporting stepwise
progress towards peace, culminating in the 2006 national
elections. He said that the next priority is the
consolidation of peace, which he said was essential to reach
the "point of no return" (Kabila explained he used the term
to indicate a point from which a backslide to violence was
minimal). The UK permrep asked Kabila if he was considering
future military cooperation with Rwanda similar to the recent
joint operations in North Kivu. Kabila responded "the time
is not right" now for such further cooperation, adding that
FARDC operations against the LRA and Joseph Kony will also
continue.


7. (C) The Ugandan permrep asked Kabila for his assessment
of relations with the DRC's Great Lakes neighbors. Kabila
said that a year ago he would have characterized DRC
relations as good with all but two (clearly alluding to
Uganda and Rwanda); today, he said, the DRC has good
relations with all nine states. He said the DRC was ready to
move forward with the modalities of formal diplomatic
relations with Kampala, Kigali, and Bujumbura. He summarized
the status of regional relations as being "on the right path".


8. (C) When asked by the Japanese permrep about the impact
of the global economic downturn, Kabila said the crisis
limited the ability of the DRC to pay state salaries and that
DRC payments on the national debt reduced funds available
for social programs. He added, optimistically, that expanded
state authority in the east would permit the DRC to assume
control of natural resources that were, until recently,
controlled by armed groups. Addressing Security Council
concerns about the integration of former militia into the
national army, Kabila explained that the recently passed
amnesty law was an essential step to achieve peace, and that
peace cannot wait. He reiterated the peace before justice
theme in reference to the status of recently integrated
former rebel and ICC-indictee Bosco Ntaganda.

Muzito: DRC Making Quiet Progress
--------------


9. (SBU) The meeting with Prime Minister Muzito was
restricted to permreps and GDRC ministers. Embassy contacts
report that Muzito noted the DRC challenge of maintaining
progress towards peace in the east while enduring the
negative economic and financial effects of the global
economic downturn. The combination of the two forced the DRC
to make hard choices between public expenditures and
immediate security needs. Muzito underscored that progress
often goes unnoticed compared to times of crisis and said
that the DRC was now making quiet progress. He said that
negotiations continue between the government and North and
South Kivu armed groups but he emphasized that the recently
passed amnesty law does not include crimes against humanity.

Parliamentary Leadership Toes The Line
--------------


10. (C) Meeting with the Security Council at the parliament,
Senate President Leon Kengo Wa Dondo stressed the need to
equip, maintain, and train a "republican" army of 50,000
soldiers with the assistance of the international community.
In a thinly veiled reference to MONUC Indian and Pakistani
peacekeeper contingents, he said that there was
"insubordination" between certain MONUC units, and noted that
the DRC is still waiting for the 3,000 additional
peacekeepers authorized by the Security Council. Regarding a
date for the 2009 local elections, Kengo said that they must
occur no later than the first quarter of 2010. On the global
financial crisis, Kengo noted the DRC would have difficulty
funding local elections at levels to which it had previously
committed.


11. (C) Ambassador Rice noted the "shock of the painful

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personal experiences" that was shared with the Council by
victims of sexual violence in Goma. She asked Kengo about
the status of the law on police reform and actions to be
taken against FARDC officers implicated in human rights
violations. Kengo admitted that those officers who are
charged are not always prosecuted and said that judicial
security is the first step towards rule of law. He lamented
the triumph of the "law of force" over the "force of law".
He said he would ask the executive branch about the status of
the police reform law (Note: the executive submits proposed
draft laws to parliament for consideration. The parliament
itself can propose draft laws, but in this case has deferred
to the Ministries of Justice and Interior for the provision
of a draft. End note).


12. (C) Newly elected President of the National Assembly
Evariste Boshab, meeting the Security Council with
parliamentary caucus leaders, noted the need to support
presidential initiatives and continued progress on relations
with the DRC's neighbors. Boshab, in response to Security
Council members concern about sexual violence and the
suggestion that the maximum criminal penalty for rape be
changed, said that, regardless of the criminal penalty,
ending conflict in the east is the key to combating sexual
violence.


13. (U) Ambassador Rice has cleared this cable.
BROCK